White House Claims It Reached Out to Waffle House Hero James Shaw Jr. — He Says Otherwise

Waffle House hero James Shaw Jr. (right) reportedly has yet to hear from the White House. (Images by AP/Alex Brandon and Shawn Poynter/The New York Times)

President Donald Trump has remained mum on the heroic efforts of James Shaw Jr., the Black man who managed to wrestle a gun away from a deranged shooter at a Tennessee Waffle House late last month.

When asked if the White House reached out to Shaw in the wake of the deadly April 22 shooting, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders claimed it had. Shaw tells a different story, however.

“My understanding is that there has been an outreach effort to bring him here,” Huckabee Sanders said at a White House press briefing on Tuesday.

Journalist Yashar Ali later refuted her claim with a tweet saying Shaw hadn’t heard from the White House at all.

I just spoke to James Shaw and he tells me he has not heard from the White House yet…to be clear, they did not say they reached out to him directly, just wanted to note that James has not heard from the White House. https://t.co/NQsaaHhHXD

“I just spoke to James Shaw and he tells me he has not heard from the White House yet,” Ali wrote. “To be clear, they did not say they reached out to him directly … Just wanted to note that James has not heard from the White House.”

So far, Shaw’s GoFundMe campaign has raised over $200,000 for the families of the victims he was unable to save in the Waffle House shooting. Shaw appeared on the Ellen Show earlier today where he was presented with a $225,000 check that was raised on his behalf. His favorite basketball player, Miami Heat star Dwayne Wade, also surprised Shaw with another $20,000 check.